Iconic shows. Use 10% code SENDIT10 in basket for these prices. Bargain.Next best for both are £29.36 @ Network DVD - Possible 10% quidco for new customers also.

The PrisonerThought-provoking, revelatory and just plain cool - McGoohan's iconic series is as fresh and dynamic now as it was when first unleashed upon an unsuspecting world in 1967. To celebrate the series' fortieth anniversary this definitive box set contains all seventeen episodes

Danger ManA runaway success for ITC in the 1960s, Danger Man originally started as a half-hour series before hitting its stride with a transition to the fifty-minute format. This set contains all 47 fifty-minute shows (the last two in colour), charting the exploits of John Drake - an exemplary agent for British Intelligence who it sent into situations too tricky or dangerous for normal spies to undertake. McGoohan's simmering, compelling performance catapulted him into movies and paved the way for his undeniable your de force - The Prisoner.

Danger Man features intriguing stories from top writers such as Ralph Smart, Donald Jonson, Philip Broadley and Tony Williamson, complemented by direction from stalwarts of the filmed action series genre such as Charles Crichton, Michael Truman, Peter Yates, Don Chaffey and even McGoohan himself. Showcasing all the hallmarks of the very best filmed ITC series, Danger Man features exceptional performances from guest stars such as Ian Hendry, Dawn Addams, Virginia Maskwell, Warren Mitchell, Sylvia Syms, Glyn Owen and Donald Houston.

It's always confused me how they can turn a non HD medium into HD medium. I think this is just another revenue rip off. I know they can clean it up and make it look better but surely the only way to create HD content is to film it in HD. I'm only shooting from the hip and in no way very knowledgeable in this area but I don't understand how it can be true HD. Can they really improve on the picture so much is has to go to Blu-ray?

Anyhow... great series. heat added.

22nd Jan 2009

MEATCLAW;4147609

was in portmerion on new years daymega stuff.

We went the last year, was really lovely. Lovely walks and bright buildings!

22nd Jan 2009

nannyogg;4148706

It's always confused me how they can turn a non HD medium into HD medium. … It's always confused me how they can turn a non HD medium into HD medium. I think this is just another revenue rip off. I know they can clean it up and make it look better but surely the only way to create HD content is to film it in HD. I'm only shooting from the hip and in no way very knowledgeable in this area but I don't understand how it can be true HD. Can they really improve on the picture so much is has to go to Blu-ray?Anyhow... great series. heat added.

What resolution do think 35mm can offer? Bearing in mind it projects onto cinema screens.

22nd Jan 2009

jonthomas83;4148539

For thosee Hi-Def addicts, the Blu-ray release of prisoner is rumoured to … For thosee Hi-Def addicts, the Blu-ray release of prisoner is rumoured to be just around the corner, just a warning before you guys go and spend your hard earned money. The official announcement is down atm but here's a link to where I first heard the news - ]http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=497515 Apologies if this is outside the rules. Superb deal though, voted hot!

About time too!

Other movies that have taken ages for a Blu-ray release include...

The Star Wars Trilogies (well, maybe just the first three movies to be released, not the last three, but if we have to have them all just to get the best of the six, that that’s OK)

The Lord of the Rings (not something I would watch, but why is it taking so long? That said, the Extended Editions DVD set is really cheap in the Zavvi sale at present… if you can find a Zavvi store that is either a) open, b) staffed, c) with stock, and/or d) not owned by HMV now)

“Star Trek” Movie Collection (probably not this millennium as the 20 disc DVD set only came out in December 2005)

“Toy Story” & “Toy Story 2”… possibly waiting on another triple set release after “Toy Story 3” hits the cinema (in 2010).

Any “Wallace & Gromit” movies or any Aardman Animation… any? Not all. Just one would do. All would be very welcome. But I’m not greedy. Perhaps a retrospective to mark the sad passing of Tony Hart with a re-re-issue of “The Morph Files” (only this time without Neil Morrissey’s voice-over; the original & best Mr Hart please!).

However, a slow hand-clap as “Superman - The Movie” is (or, rather should be) out on Blu-ray in the UK this week (sorry, I seem to be “into” the deceased actor-thing at present; I used to be into necrophilia until some rotten c… [cough] never mind). The Richard Donner cut of “Superman II” is dedicated to Christopher Reeve anyway, so I’ll wait for that.

The Michael Keaton/Val Kilmer/George Clooney “Batman” movies have only just been released (22 December 2008). All four of these in the “Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997” boxed set (to match the previously re-released DVD set) are not available in the UK until 10 March 2009 though!?!

And the “oddest of odd releases” award goes to the availability of the “Batman Legacy” boxed set that is released the same week with the same four movies on Blu-ray but without the extra content (again to mirror the similarly titled DVD release that was a precursor to the “Anthology” DVD release).

The UK was blessed with “The Matrix/Matrix Reloaded/Matrix Revolutions” (3 disc) Blu-ray set at the end of November 2008, the US was offered “The Ultimate Matrix Collection” (10 discs) mid-October 2008.

But hey… the UK saw “The Dark Knight” on Blu-ray first. The US saw the Limited Edition Collector’s Edition a day later to make up for the delay!

Due to the current economic climate (“Go Obama” – very motivating speech, today, btw, so, OK, “…Stay Obama”), if the remaining “Harry Potter” movies do get made (if Warner Bros. have the cash to spend before all the “child” actors retire), I hope the UK doesn’t get the thin end of the wand with the magical goodies that will fill-up the (I would presume) Collector’s Blu-ray boxed set with hard-backed book set.

But back to this thread...

Patrick McGoohan (aka "Paddy Fitz" & "Joseph Serf") is no longer a number; he is a free man... etc.

Maybe it is a good thing that he will miss the showing of the remake to be screened this year...

Christopher Eccleston was originally lined-up for the gig, but Jim Caviezel (from "The Passion of Christ") is Number Six, & Sir Ian McKellen as Number Two.

The US partners (AMC) with ITV (replacing Sky One who pulled out probably due to the fact that they) wanted to call the series "Number Six".

If he had been dead by the time of that decision, Mr McG would have been turning in his grave.

BFN,

fp.

22nd Jan 2009

nannyogg;4148706

It's always confused me how they can turn a non HD medium into HD medium. … It's always confused me how they can turn a non HD medium into HD medium. I think this is just another revenue rip off. I know they can clean it up and make it look better but surely the only way to create HD content is to film it in HD.

Essentially it was - it was filmed on film rather than video. The potential resolution of 35mm film is far above HD, so presuming that they have access to the original filmstock, and the time and money to do a good transfer - that's usually the issue - they should be able to get pristine HD for most of it. I don't know how much Prisoner filmstock is around though. Sound is more likely to be a problem than video.

Space:1999 has already been transferred to HD - see bbcresources.com/pos…tml for details - and there's probably a large number of other series of the era that could be transferred provided everything was on film.

Unfortunately quite a lot of older series mixed film and video (film for exterior shots, video for interior) and while a lot can be done with the film there's not much that can be done to make the video HD apart from clean it up a bit. See restoration-team.co.uk/ for some of the Doctor Who Restoration Team's articles on their DVD releases - there's some nice examples of what can be done by going back to the film on the "New Beginnings" boxset and "The Seeds of Death".

There's even more issues with more modern series. "Babylon 5" even has problems on DVD - while everything was filmed at 16:9 in good quality (I don't know if it was film or high-res video offhand) the CGI effects were only every rendered at 4:3 and at broadcast resolution. (It was broadcast in 4:3, so the filming in 16:9 was futureproofing). The intention was that whenever it was released in 16:9 the CGI would be re-rendered appropriately, but it never was. So the 16:9 DVDs have nice crisp live action and fuzzy CGI with bits hacked off to make it 16:9.

22nd Jan 2009

fanpages;4149094

However, a slow hand-clap as “Superman - The Movie” is (or, rather should … However, a slow hand-clap as “Superman - The Movie” is (or, rather should be) out on Blu-ray in the UK this week

wasnt it out a while ago? i'm sure ive seen it in shops for some time now

22nd Jan 2009

After seeing the comments based on my original query, ]this web page supports what everyone is saying also.

22nd Jan 2009

I love The Prisoner!

22nd Jan 2009

nannyogg;4148706

It's always confused me how they can turn a non HD medium into HD medium. … It's always confused me how they can turn a non HD medium into HD medium. I think this is just another revenue rip off. I know they can clean it up and make it look better but surely the only way to create HD content is to film it in HD. I'm only shooting from the hip and in no way very knowledgeable in this area but I don't understand how it can be true HD. Can they really improve on the picture so much is has to go to Blu-ray?Anyhow... great series. heat added.

Why do you think movies are still shot on 35mm not HD? In terms of preparation, experts and crew, time to setup (nearly half the cost of movies in the tens of millions now), hassle, less possibilities, etc. etc. it would be much much much easier quicker and vastly cheaper to shoot on HD. Even if HD 'truely' surpassed the resolution of 35mm or even 70mm one day, you would never get the tone, timbre and feel of the various 35s even with filtres or post-pro. Even a digitised 16mm is superior in feel. It takes years to develop an eye and the vast majority can't and that's why the handful of elder telecine masters get paid over £5k a week just to watch movies.

Banned
22nd Jan 2009

The best television series ever released. Such a crime that the recent passing of McGoohan made almost no impact on the media

23rd Jan 2009

I bought this DVD set when I first moved to the USA in 2001 - a snip at $99 :oops:

As mentioned - I never realised he had died, then again I've not been following the Prisoner news for quite some time now.

I'll need to look out my old t-shirt :thumbsup:

It was quite amusing wearing the t-shirt in the US - a small minority of people would come up to to chat specifically about the program when they saw me wearing it ;-)

23rd Jan 2009

Forgot to mention - talking of remakes of old TV shows...

Did anybody watch the remake of The Survivors?

I can't say I was too impressed - not a patch on the original.

13th Feb 2009

fanpages;4149094

About time too!Other movies that have taken ages for a Blu-ray release … About time too!Other movies that have taken ages for a Blu-ray release include...The Star Wars Trilogies (well, maybe just the first three movies to be released, not the last three, but if we have to have them all just to get the best of the six, that that’s OK)The Lord of the Rings (not something I would watch, but why is it taking so long? That said, the Extended Editions DVD set is really cheap in the Zavvi sale at present… if you can find a Zavvi store that is either a) open, b) staffed, c) with stock, and/or d) not owned by HMV now)“Star Trek” Movie Collection (probably not this millennium as the 20 disc DVD set only came out in December 2005)“Toy Story” & “Toy Story 2”… possibly waiting on another triple set release after “Toy Story 3” hits the cinema (in 2010).Any “Wallace & Gromit” movies or any Aardman Animation… any? Not all. Just one would do. All would be very welcome. But I’m not greedy. Perhaps a retrospective to mark the sad passing of Tony Hart with a re-re-issue of “The Morph Files” (only this time without Neil Morrissey’s voice-over; the original & best Mr Hart please!).However, a slow hand-clap as “Superman - The Movie” is (or, rather should be) out on Blu-ray in the UK this week (sorry, I seem to be “into” the deceased actor-thing at present; I used to be into necrophilia until some rotten c… [cough] never mind). The Richard Donner cut of “Superman II” is dedicated to Christopher Reeve anyway, so I’ll wait for that.The Michael Keaton/Val Kilmer/George Clooney “Batman” movies have only just been released (22 December 2008). All four of these in the “Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997” boxed set (to match the previously re-released DVD set) are not available in the UK until 10 March 2009 though!?!And the “oddest of odd releases” award goes to the availability of the “Batman Legacy” boxed set that is released the same week with the same four movies on Blu-ray but without the extra content (again to mirror the similarly titled DVD release that was a precursor to the “Anthology” DVD release).The UK was blessed with “The Matrix/Matrix Reloaded/Matrix Revolutions” (3 disc) Blu-ray set at the end of November 2008, the US was offered “The Ultimate Matrix Collection” (10 discs) mid-October 2008.But hey… the UK saw “The Dark Knight” on Blu-ray first. The US saw the Limited Edition Collector’s Edition a day later to make up for the delay!Due to the current economic climate (“Go Obama” – very motivating speech, today, btw, so, OK, “…Stay Obama”), if the remaining “Harry Potter” movies do get made (if Warner Bros. have the cash to spend before all the “child” actors retire), I hope the UK doesn’t get the thin end of the wand with the magical goodies that will fill-up the (I would presume) Collector’s Blu-ray boxed set with hard-backed book set.But back to this thread...Patrick McGoohan (aka "Paddy Fitz" & "Joseph Serf") is no longer a number; he is a free man... etc.Maybe it is a good thing that he will miss the showing of the remake to be screened this year...[ http://blogs.amctv.com/the-prisoner/ ]Christopher Eccleston was originally lined-up for the gig, but Jim Caviezel (from "The Passion of Christ") is Number Six, & Sir Ian McKellen as Number Two.The US partners (AMC) with ITV (replacing Sky One who pulled out probably due to the fact that they) wanted to call the series "Number Six".If he had been dead by the time of that decision, Mr McG would have been turning in his grave.BFN,fp.